The San Diego Padres’ bid for a fourth straight win fell short again.
The Padres were blown out at Coors Field, the “Pitcher’s Graveyard” in Colorado, on Wednesday, as their bullpen gave up a home run to spoil a strong start by starter Blake Snell. 31-34 on the season.
It was a game that epitomized the Padres’ problems in the first half of the year, including a four-game winning streak snapped and a 4-5 record in one-run losses. The game was delayed by a torrential downpour at Coors Field in the bottom of the ninth and was brought to its knees by a walk-off home run. The consolation prize was a 2-1 win.
However, it stung that they couldn’t capitalize on Snell’s seven innings of three-hit, no-walk, 12-strikeout, one-run ball, and the bullpen came through with a series of blown saves to lose by one run. It was his best outing of the season, needing just 85 pitches. Snell’s career high in strikeouts is 13.
The Padres have won three or more games in a row four times this year. They are 4-12 in one-run games, the worst among MLB’s 30 teams. The Padres, winners of three straight, tied the game 1-1 on Juan Soto’s sacrifice fly in the third and took the lead in the fourth on Jake Cronenweth’s game-winning two-run homer (No. 7), but Luis Garcia, returning from injury, gave up the tying run in the eighth.
Ha Sung Kim was out of the starting lineup. Lugned O’Dowd started at second base and had a walk and a hit before being replaced by left-hander Brad Hand in the sixth inning with a 3-1 lead. In his first at-bat, O’Dowd flied out to center field and then drew a walk with the score tied 3-3 in the ninth. He advanced to third on a Matt Carpenter single to right and scored on a wild pitch. With the score 4-3, it looked like it would be the game-winner.
But the failure to call on Josh Hader, who had pitched three straight games with a one-run save the day before, proved costly. After facing two batters in the eighth, left-hander Tom Gosgrove was brought in for the bottom of the ninth. After giving up the tying run (10th) to leadoff hitter Ryan McMahon, the umpires halted the game as rain continued to fall.메이저놀이터
In the bottom of the ninth, which resumed after an hour and 25 minutes, Padres manager Bob Melvin called on right-hander Brent Honeywell. After a Randal Grichuk fly out and a Mike Moustakas strikeout to set the tone for extra innings, he gave up a no-doubt walk-off homer to Nolan Jones (No. 4) and the Padres headed to the dugout in disbelief.
The Rockies scored five runs on four home runs. Leading 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, rookie second baseman Coco Montes hit a tying two-run shot in his first major league game to set the stage for the comeback. Montes, a 15th-round pick in the 2018 draft out of the University of South Florida, homered in his first game in the big leagues after eight years in the minors.